Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1887-03-17
Mr.. cressey's Lecture.

The lecture on Philology by Rev. G. G. Ores.
sey of Bangor. al the Unitarian vestry In this
| city. last Thursday evening, was one full of in
sra ion and should have been listened to by
all th, larger pupils in this city especially those
of the High school, The following is a brief
and very hasty sketch of Mr.. Cressey's ex-
cellent address: Philology, the science Of Ian
guage. is a new science. Like the air, or any
property Of nature. language is a great medi-
um of communication. Tracing languages
back, we can find no common origin, though
we do find very distinct families. The
most OF these belong TO the Aryan family Of
which there are ten or more branches The
English language may be considered under
two heads-its structure and its vocabulary;
and these may again be sub-divided into two
other classes, viz, the synthetic and the ana
lytcal.
The speaker pointed out several curiosties
in the English language. among which we may
name the following: Originally, the irregular
verbs. such rs run, &c, &c. were regarded as
regular verbs. Many adyerbs which we now
use are really nouns, as needs and ,ehHom.
Orea as the plural of or was notch as one Of
which seems to be like ofea. originally bad no
n. II language is designed for the show ease
we may as well 90 back to the ancient sanscrit;
but language was designed for use, and should
be In such form as will best answer the pur-
pose for which it was designed. 1t is on this
ground that a reform in spelling is called for.
OF course it is pedantry to condemn sweep
ingly the use of big words. We should al
WAYS try to use such words will most eX
actly express our ideas. but on the whole we
should endcavor to avoid using high sounding
phrases TO express common ideas. For in
stance. il one should say, as did lady once,
Ignite the lumnary,' it would be such vio-
lation of good taste, that it would be apparent
to the most iliterate. The speaker said that
the most important constituent in our Ian
guagc is that which comes from the Latin.
He dwct at some length upon the marked diff
ference between the force and beauty OF the
plain Anglo-SaXon style of expression and the
inflated Latin style. Metropolitan newspa-
pers are given to indulge in the last named
STYLE The Anglo-Saxon style would put 1t in
this way "A man going home was thrown
from his wagon and broke his ARM" but the
aN era4c city newspaper would express lhe
same fact in these words: "A gentleman
turning to his residence was prccipitated from
his carriage and sustained fracture OF
limb"
Into the English there properly enters the
capacity Of the language 10 express thought
aud there enters in, also, poetry. In the first
our language is second to none, and We think.
also, ii may lay claim to the second requisite.
genuine poetry. What is poetry: l. not poe
try what i most natural: All about Us in ma
ture is rhythmcal, aud our language /, but the
sign Of idea, gained A. we look around Us. No
language therefore. can exceed ours in poe
try.
our errors in expression may be classed UNI
der two heads. viz. violations OF simplicity
and violations Of sincerity. The former rules out
all slang phrases. Slang may not be the worst
thing. hut it always should be avoided. " hat
j. slang: Slang i, simply hgurative language.
bat always coarse aud objectionable. For in
stance too previous, too subsequent" and
''hc wiped up the floor with hi, antagonist"
are figure, Of speech. but figures which are uu-
worthy Of our use. The second error which
consists In rxagEcraion- Of statement aud
other violation, of sincerity. cannot be con-
drmncd too severely.